Qualcomm Rejects Broadcom’s US$121 Billion Offer

Qualcomm has rejected Broadcom’s latest US$121 billion (~RM476 billion) bid to buy out the company. This marks the second time that Qualcomm has turned down an offer from its rival semiconductor maker over the last three months.

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Qualcomm wrote, “your (Broadcom) proposal ascribes no value to our accretive NXP acquisition, no value for the expected resolution of our current licensing disputes and no value for the significant opportunity in 5G. Your proposal is inferior relative to our prospects as an independent company and is significantly below both trading and transaction multiples in our sector.”

Broadcom had originally bid US$104 billion (~RM413 billion) for Qualcomm back in November 2017. An offer that was rebuffed without comment. This later lead to Broadcom nominating several new names to Qualcomm’s board of directors in an effort to force negotiations to take place. Voting on the nominations is set to take place on 6 March.

All is not lost for Broadcom, though. Qualcomm has agreed to meet Hock Tan, the chief executive at Broadcom who’s pushing for the deal to go through. That said, Tan is going to have to bring his ‘A’ game to the meeting, as Qualcomm has stated that it would be “enormously and irreparably damaged” if both sides entered into merger with no end in sight.